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Jun 17, 2023

Teravail Telegraph 30mm Road Tires are Fast Rolling and Dependable

When you think of Terevail tires, you probably think gravel, or gnarly MTB tires, certainly not road. That’s about to change; the tire manufacturer is not only entering the road market but coming in

When you think of Terevail tires, you probably think gravel, or gnarly MTB tires, certainly not road. That’s about to change; the tire manufacturer is not only entering the road market but coming in hot with a performance-driven compound and daily all-around design — Meet the Teravail Telegraph.

The Teravail Telegraph tire is a 30mm performance-designed road tire, combining Teravail’s high-speed grip compound and a voluminous casing. The casing of the new Telegraph is a 120 TPI tubeless-ready casing with single compound rubber, chosen by Teravail for its compliance and grip. For added setup ease, the Terevail casing has a hidden internal liner for a clean and efficient tubeless setup.

The tread (or lack of it) is a slightly textured mix, similar to the Michelin line of tires. The sides have a staggered siping pattern that should clear water and aid in grip.

Currently, the Teravail Telegraph is only available in size 700X30mm but comes in two casing offerings; Light and Supple (tan sidewall) or Durable (black sidewall).

When the Teravail Telegraph came across my desk, I was finishing a performance tire review. Seeing a road tire from a company I mainly think of as gravel and hefty mountain focus was interesting. I like the Teravail tires I’ve ridden in the past, but I wouldn’t label them as uber performance, especially compared to the exceptional gravel options. I decided to do all my training and racing on the Telegraph for the next couple of weeks and was delighted with the results.

Mounting and inflation are simple; the light/supple and durable tires are inflated with a floor pump without removing the valve cores. I mounted each tire on hookless and hooked rims with similarly easy installation.

Weight-wise, there is a slight uptick for the durable casing compared to the light/supple, but the tan side walls look faster, so I went with those for my first rides. The Telegraph tires measured 30.74mm on the new Specialized Terra CXL wheels with 25mm inter-rim width and a hooked rim.

Coming from a performance tire nearly the same size as the Telegraphs, I expected a drop in efficiency and some harshness out of the gate. On the contrary, the Telegraphs felt on par with the much more expensive tires.

The design is dependable, classic, and trustworthy. The casing on the light and supple exhibits those ride qualities and gets better with lower pressures. Depending on the ride and conditions, I found my sweet spot was around 50 to 57 psi. Grip-wise and performance-wise, the Telegraphs are very predictable. I didn’t have a slip in the corners or feel “over-tired” in the weeknight training crit. Plus — I’ve yet to have a flat over many miles (and questionable gravel roads).

Riding the Teravail Telegraph in the Durable casing, I had a similar ride impression. Yes, the durable casing is slightly heavier, and with that, the ride is not as crisp as the Light/Supple casing, but the overall performance is excellent.

Comparing the two casing options, the durable casing feels muted when ridden directly compared to the light and supple. The corning feels the same, and so does the overall ride quality. The thicker casing affects the tire’s pressure sensitivity while running 55psi in the light and supple; I chose to run lower pressure to get a similar feel from the Durable casing option.

Terevail has a winner in the new Telegraph tire. It’s dependable, solid price-wise, and rolls well on various terrain. Did they make the fastest tire out there? No, but they did create a quick, predictable tire that can put up with many bad roads and debris.

Rumor is that Terevail plans to offer the Telegraph in more sizes, and I would love to see that, especially in a 32mm for all road riding and a 28mm for road racing.

For more information and purchase, check out: Teravail.com